Hotter Honda Civic Type R Coming?

After decades of being sold exclusively in Japan and Europe, Honda has finally brought the Civic Type R to the U.S. However, as great as the 2017 model is, it doesn’t exhibit a massive power increase over the last generation car. Apparently Honda plans to change that, according to a new Automotive Newsreport.

The publication recently spoke with Hideki Matsumoto, chief engineer of the Civic. Matsumoto confirmed Honda plans to keep rolling out various versions of the Civic in an effort to keep sales climbing in an era in which car sales are generally falling.

Among the list of Civic iterations Honda is looking at is a more powerful version of the Civic Type R. In fact, a more powerful version that could feature all-wheel-drive even. The move would not be remarkably surprising given the car’s direct competitors in the Volkswagen Golf R and Ford Focus RS feature all-wheel-drive standard to go along with their beefier engines.

Matsumoto also confirmed a toned-down version of the Type R may roll out in the future as well. This car would focus on the grand touring aspect of the car versus hard core performance.

Thus far it isn’t clear when more iterations of the Civic Type R would launch. Matsumoto did state that such special editions or iterations of the car would come with the intent of boosting sales after initial demand wanes off, so perhaps within the next year or so additional Type R variants will roll out.

The current Civic Type R went on sale in the U.S. this week for $34,775. This car is powered by a 306 horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. It’s 295 pound-feet of torque flows exclusively through a six-speed manual gearbox.

About Nick Saporito

AutoVerdict Senior Editor Nick Saporito began writing about cars at age 13. Nick ran a couple of automotive enthusiast sites for several years, before taking some time off to focus on his career and education. By day he's a marketing executive in the telecom world and by night he hangs out here at AV. You'll find him focusing on tech, design and the industry's future.